The much-awaited Ram Temple's consecration ceremony in Ayodhya will take place at 12.20 pm on January 22. The grand ceremony will be graced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top leaders from the country. As per reports, the temple will be open for the devotees from January 24.  The newly redeveloped Ayodhya railway station was inaugurated by the Prime Minister on December 30, 2023. Ahead of the inauguration, the Ayodhya railway junction was given a new name - Ayodhya Dham. As per reports, the newly developed Ayodhya Dham railway station building has ‘airport-like’ amenities. The redevelopment is aimed at providing better amenities, improved infrastructure, and an enhanced travel experience for passengers visiting the holy city. Ram Mandir: Explainers on Temple's Architecture, Design and Artistry as a Fusion of Architecture and Heritage in Ayodhya (Watch Video).

Here are important facts about the redeveloped Ayodhya Dham railway station that you should know.

  1. The Ayodhya Dham railway station building is a sustainable and eco-friendly building, as it uses clean and renewable energy resources to generate, such as solar panels on its roof for electricity, LED lights, CCTV cameras, proper waste disposal measures, water management techniques like rainwater harvesting and a sewage treatment plant, and greenery in its premises for passenger facilitation.

  2. The railway station comprises three floors - ground, mezzanine, and first floor. The building measures 140m x 32.6m. An additional front porch of 140mx12m is also provided over the drop-off zone to protect the passengers from adverse weather conditions.

  3. The temple has various designed structures and architecture depicting Lord Ram's 'mukut' (crown), while the 'chakra' symbolizes the sun. Two shikaras on the roof take cues from the Janaki Mandir in Nepal, with seven mandapas nestled between the shikaras.

  4. The railway station has ‘airport-like’ amenities like lifts, escalators, toilets and a taxi bay. The ground floor has an entrance passage, a central area for assembling passengers before going to the platform areas, multiple passenger transit gates, ticket and baggage counters, a tourist information centre, washrooms, and waiting rooms.

  5. The first floor will have both AC and non-AC general, first class, second class, and ladies' waiting rooms, another food plaza and separate dormitories for men and women, out of which there is a men's dormitory with 17 beds and a women's dormitory with 10 beds.

  6. The centre dome of the Ayodhya Dham railway station spans over 11,000 square meters. The Ayodhya Dham station will have separate arrival and departure areas.

  7. The redevelopment project initiated a couple of years ago has been overseen by RITES, a central public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Railways.

  8. As per Indian Railways, the three-story modern building of the Ayodhya Dham railway station has several modern features such as food plazas, waiting halls, child care rooms, etc.

  9. The construction is being conducted in two phases, with a cost of Rs 131.97 crore for the first phase and Rs 307 crore for the second phase, thus taking the overall cost to around Rs 430 crore.

  10. The first phase was fully completed and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 30 December 2023. The second phase began construction in December 2023, starting first with the concourse, and will take around 2-3 years to complete.

With the consecration ceremony at the Ram Mandir set to be held on January 22, 2024, Ayodhya is set to witness a massive rush as devotees are set to throng the streets of the holy city to take a glimpse of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple. The distance between Ayodhya Dham railway station and Ram Mandir is around 6 km. The route is expected to witness heavy footfall once the temple is inaugurated.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 18, 2024 04:44 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).